Nullify the Word of God

The word tradition has many definitions. The accepted definition is "the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice." Christian theology defines tradition as "a body of teachings, or any one of them held to have been delivered by Christ and His apostles but not originally committed to writing." It is this end of the theological definition that strikes me the most. It says, "but not originally committed to writing." Christians have a habit of creating traditions that have little to no basis in the Bible. When a person challenges these traditions, they can be met with a dismissive attitude rather than one of love, which results in reasoning from the scriptures like Bereans. A couple of these subjects are the sovereignty of God and Mary, the "mother of God."

God's Sovereignty

Everyone agrees that God has ultimate power and authority over His creation. However, to what degree does God extend His authority and power? A widely held belief is that "everything that happens is, at the very least, the result of God's permissive will." Once people accept this definition of God's sovereignty, the problems begin. If everything that happens is the result of God's will, then we end up making God responsible for all that occurs in the world. Can we blame God for every natural disaster, all acts of violence, each problem, and crisis suffered by all 7.8 Billion people on earth? Where do God's "permissive will" end and our individual responsibility begin? God not only loses His claim to be a righteous, kind, and loving God, but He now becomes responsible for evil and the author of confusion. When everything is God's fault, nothing is humanities doing. In my opinion, God can know and control everything but chooses not to exercise that ability all the time for reasons that are His own. One of those reasons, I believe, is so He can enjoy having a relationship with His people, which I think are seen in scriptures like Genesis 2:19 and Genesis 18:20-21, to name a couple. 

Pastor Aaron Budjen was asked about his perspective on the topic of the sovereignty of God. "There isn't really that much to say," Budjen began. "And I know that is going to sound really disappointing. Especially because the subject of the sovereignty of God, for a lot of people, is a huge subject ... The belief that people have concerning the sovereignty of God, and I have a belief that God is sovereign, [centers around] what does that mean? ... We need to have a total definition of that. Most people are saying that according to the sovereignty of God, God is in control of absolutely everything to the extent that there is no maverick molecule in the universe. I say that the sovereignty of God is such that God has control over what He wants to have control over. And there is a lot that I can tell that He is not asserting control over." We do not know how God decides what He controls and what He does not. We do not know the criteria He uses to determine when to intervene in our lives. God has not revealed enough about His sovereignty for us to come to the conclusions about it that we would like to have. If His "permissive will" is to control everything, then we have problems explaining His love, free will, personal responsibility, and so much more. 

The Mother of God

In a Christian forum, a series of questions were asked. Those questions were, "Is there salvation without Mary?" "Is she the mother of our salvation?" Is she "our hope?" The answers are yes, no, and no, respectively. However, to give a more thoughtful response, I replied with, "And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Luke 1:46)." If Mary is the "mother of our salvation," she would not have admitted her need for a Savior." Without delay, this triggered the response of someone who believes that the answer to all those questions is no, yes, and yes. When they responded to me, they added one more statement, which was that Mary is the "mother of God." The reasoning is that since Jesus Christ is God and Mary is His mother, she is the Mother of God. The Bible does not support this logic. But, it is supported by religious dogma. Religious dogma often overrides biblical truth. There is no problem with having a disagreement about scripture, but how much of the Bible is undermined in defending dogmatic beliefs. 

Regarding Mary being the mother of God, here is part of my answer. "She is not the mother of God. Jesus was God before Mary gave birth (i.e., John 8:58). If she is the mother of God, then she is greater than God. If she is the mother of God, who was it that impregnated her? Did she make herself pregnant? Why did God have to send an angel to tell her she was pregnant? She should have already known. If she is the mother of God, why did Jesus say, "The Father and I are One (John 10:30)?" Why didn't Jesus include Mary? Why isn't Mary mentioned when the scriptures talk about God as Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit? How come Jesus said, "I only speak what the Father tells me to speak (John 12:50)?" He didn't mention Mary. I could go on. Jesus also said, "Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters (Mark 7:13)." Obviously, traditions are more important than the word of God."

When it comes to traditions, whether it be the traditional belief about the sovereignty of God or the religious tradition that Mary is the mother of God, the word of God is nullified by the handing down of these traditions. We have to address these conflicts as more than just differences of opinion or the variance in the interpretation of the Bible. When traditional beliefs undermine the clear teaching of scripture, they become enemies of the Gospel and biblical truth. We must nullify the traditions if they hinder us from handing down the Word of God. 

Good Answer. Bad Theology

"Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21

“Just that this was God’s plan. That we would be happier in victory, but God’s blessed us all year long. And so I’m not going to be in a position where I’m going to ask for any more than what He’s given us and trust Him completely. So we all feel really, really blessed, and yeah we’re disappointed, but we’re also very proud.” These are the classy, humble and gracious words of University of Auburn Men's Basketball Coach, Bruce Pearl, moments after his team suffered a heartbreaking and controversial 63-62 defeat to the Virginia Cavaliers in the Final Four. In a moment where Pearl could have let his frustration get the best of him and criticize the officiating for his team's loss, he chose to look at the positives and be thankful for all he and his team accomplished this year. Nobody would have blamed him if he had chosen to do the former, but in choosing to do the latter he will no doubt garner much praise and admiration. While he should be applauded for "taking the high road" in his answer, my prayer is that people don't see what I believe to be a misleading characterization about God and believe it to be true. As a Christian, I believe in the God of the Bible, who revealed Himself as Jesus Christ. Therefore, when I hear someone attribute their circumstances to God's plan, I cringe a bit because of the unintended consequences of making such a claim. Having viewed the game between Auburn and Virginia, I would have to ask the question, "Was it God's plan that an official miss an obvious double-dribble violation committed by Virginia, which if called may have secured an Auburn victory?" You see, the consequences of saying that something is God's plan can lead to the belief that everything that happens is God's plan; good, bad, and otherwise. And that the only proof required that it was God's plan is that it happened. Rarely, as is the case in this circumstance, is there any reason given as to why God caused these circumstances to manifest themselves. Conversely, and I am not aware that it was said, what would people say if Virginia's coach had said that it was "God's plan" for Virginia to win? He would have even greater anecdotal evidence given how Virginia scored 6 points in the final 13 seconds to pull out the victory; being aided by the missed violation earlier mentioned and a questionable foul call on Virginia's final shot of the game which led to them scoring the winning points. Who knows what the reaction to comments like that would have been like? Personally, I just look at it as what happened, rather than the fruition of some mystical plan of God nobody seems to understand. Do we ever stop to consider that God may have been just as surprised by the outcome of the game as everybody else?

In Genesis 18, the Lord, accompanied by a couple of His angels, is on His way to Sodom. After being persuaded to stop, rest, and have a meal with Abraham, the Lord is about to continue His journey when He says, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do (Genesis 18:17)?" What was the Lord was about to do? It is easy to say that He was going to go destroy Sodom because, as we see in Genesis 19, that's exactly what God did? However, what I believe God was "about to do" was to "go down and see" if what was going on in the city was "as bad as the outcry" had made it seem. By saying He was going to "see" what was going on indicates to me that the Lord didn't know for sure what was taking place in Sodom. Therefore, He took a couple of His angels, set out for the city, and along the way took some time to visit with Abraham. Was it God's plan to destroy Sodom? Not necessarily. He had heard an outcry from somebody about the city and went to investigate. We tend to believe that because God is omniscient, omnipresent, and sovereign that He has planned out every single event in history down to the smallest detail. While the Lord is certainly capable of that and has done that on many occasions, it doesn't mean that it takes place in every situation or that He is obligated to plan out every circumstance in life. What God can do and what He chooses to do are two different things. I don't believe that God's plan was that Sodom would descend into a city of great sin that He needed to destroy. Again, if that is the case, was it His plan that Adam eats the forbidden fruit? I don't believe so. Ultimately, God allows things to happen and He works in the midst of those things happening. He didn't want Sodom to descend into sin, but when it did He had a plan to rectify it; burn it up. He didn't want Adam to sin, but when he did God had a plan to rectify it; Jesus Christ. Did He want Auburn to lose? I don't know, but their loss can teach us something about God. Remember in Genesis 2:19 when God brought the animals to Adam "to see what he would name them"? It appears that God didn't plan on what to name the animals, but it doesn't make Him any less God. In fact, it gave the Lord a chance to share a special moment with His child during His act of creation. Maybe God wanted to share a moment with His creation again and watch a basketball game. Who knows? He may have been just as surprised and captivated at the finish of the game as everyone else was. If God can enjoy an unplanned meal with Abraham and take a moment to allow His son to name the animals He created, He can certainly take a couple hours out of His busy schedule to enjoy a college basketball game without determining the outcome beforehand. Bruce Pearl gave an eloquent response, but let's not take what he said about God's plan as Gospel truth.

Super Bowl 50

My pastor doesn't really follow sports. Last Sunday, prior to speaking, he notices me and others in attendance wearing our Broncos colors. He leans over to me and asks, "Is the Super Bowl today?" I said, "Yes." As he begins his message he says, and I paraphrase, "Is this part of the ritual before the game; to go to church and ask God for a victory?" We all laughed. He went on to talk about God. He said that many people believe one of two things about Him. One, He already knew the outcome of the game. Or, two, that He sits off in the distance, sort of disinterested, as we "duke it out" here among ourselves. But, there is another way that God is that may surprise people. While God can certainly tap into His infinite wisdom and see the outcome of the game or even help determine its outcome, perhaps God wanted to watch the game along with the rest of us to see what the outcome would be. There is some evidence for this. When Adam was in the Garden the Bible says, "Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name (Genesis 2:19)." God brought the animals to Adam "to see what he would name them." God didn't know what Adam would name the animals. It doesn't say God gave Adam the names of the animals either. God allowed Adam to participate in His creation; God made the animals and Adam named them. God interacted with His creation and it didn't take away from His sovereignty or His foreknowledge. Perhaps God didn't take time to see what the outcome of the game would be or play a role in its outcome for two reasons. First, He can take take pleasure in players like DeMarcus Ware and Vance Walker of the Broncos giving Him praise and glory for the victory. And, two, He can no doubt use the pain of losing suffered by the Panthers and their fans to draw people closer to Him in ways only He can do. So, while Broncos and Panther fans alike were shooting prayers up to the Lord asking for Divine intervention, take heart in the idea that God was sitting right there with you wondering what the outcome of the game would be. He is a living God who interacts with his creation while still being in charge over it. God Bless and, of course, GO BRONCOS!!!!!! WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!